Jenkins to lead Thornwell School for the Arts
Experienced education leader Dr. Lilkenya Jenkins has been named principal of Thornwell School for the Arts. Dr. Jenkins, who currently serves as principal at Spaulding Elementary School in Lamar, will take over for interim principal Allison Baker immediately.
“Dr. Jenkins will be tremendous asset to Thornwell School for the Arts,” said Dr. Eddie Ingram, superintendent of the Darlington County School District. “Dr. Jenkins’ expertise in data analysis as well as her background in theater will give her critical skills and knowledge necessary to move Thornwell forward, both as top-notch educational institution and a true art magnet.”
Dr. Jenkins has served as principal of Spaulding Elementary School since 2011. Under her leadership, the school received a $577, 500 21st Century Community Learning Center grant over a period of four years, implemented an extensive afterschool program, and was named a “Title 1 Reward School for Performance, and most recently the school received a SC TAP Value-Added Rating of Five which is the highest rating that a SC TAP school receives.
She moves to Thornwell School for the Arts, the school district’s elementary art magnet school and a Comer School Development program school. The Comer Process is a way of managing, organizing, coordinating, and integrating programs and activities in order to foster positive school and classroom climate and align curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
“I am very appreciative of the opportunity to have worked with the students, faculty, parents, and community of Spaulding Elementary School,” said Dr. Jenkins. “I am looking forward to serving the Hartsville community and the opportunity that this affords me to continue to impact the lives of children.”
Dr. Jenkins began her career with Lee County First Steps and Wateree Community Action, Inc. She served as an English teacher at Mount Pleasant Middle School, Lee Central High School, and Bates Middle School in Sumter School District, and the assistant principal of curriculum and instruction at Lee Central High School. In 2008 she joined the Darlington County School District as the Middle School Curriculum Facilitator before moving to Spaulding Elementary School as principal.
Dr. Jenkins holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in theater from Coker College, a Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Lesley University, a Specialist in Education degree from Cambridge College and her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from South Carolina State University. Her training includes SC Gifted and Talented Endorsement, Balanced Literacy, SC Foundations in Mentoring Training, SC Department of Education Standards Support Institute, SC Reading Initiative, Community in Schools Family Strengthening Committee, Framework for Understanding Poverty, SC TAP Evaluator, and International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme Training.
The search for a new principal for Spaulding Elementary School will begin immediately.
